From Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hardy, through Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf, right up to Graham Greene, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Ian McEwan, and many others, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories encompasses comedy and tragedy, farce and delicacy, elegance and the grotesque. Edited by noted novelist A. S. Byatt, the thirty-seven stories gathered here range from social realism to surreal fantasy, from rural poverty to war-blitzed London, from tales of the supernatural to precise delineations of the mundane, all unified by Byatts demanding criteria that the works be both startling and satisfying, and if possible make the hairs on the neck prickle with excitement, aesthetic or narrative. For short story lovers and anyone unable to resist the enchantments of the English imagination, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories offers a wide array of unforgettable pleasures, now reissued with a fresh, contemporary feel.

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Product description

Review

"Byatt has cast her net widely and well.... Her long introduction--which might well stand as a capsule history of the subject--sensibly emphasizes 'the evocation of the concrete' as a common feature of English short fiction, while offering superb concise assessments of classic writers like Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, and Wells.... One of Oxford's best, and another feather in Byatt's richly decorated cap."--Kirkus Reviews "Byatt has cast her net widely and well.... Her long introduction--which might well stand as a capsule history of the subject--sensibly emphasizes 'the evocation of the concrete' as a common feature of English short fiction, while offering superb concise assessments of classic writers like Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, and Wells.... One of Oxford's best, and another feather in Byatt's richly decorated cap."--Kirkus Reviews "Byatt has cast her net widely and well.... Her long introduction--which might well stand as a capsule history of the subject--sensibly emphasizes 'the evocation of the concrete' as a common feature of English short fiction, while offering superb concise assessments of classic writers like Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, and Wells.... One of Oxford's best, and another feather in Byatt's richly decorated cap."--Kirkus Reviews "Byatt has cast her net widely and well.... Her long introduction--which might well stand as a capsule history of the subject--sensibly emphasizes 'the evocation of the concrete' as a common feature of English short fiction, while offering superb concise assessments of classic writers like Dickens, Trollope, Hardy, and Wells.... One of Oxford's best, and another feather in Byatt's richly decorated cap."--Kirkus Reviews
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

A. S. Byatt is a novelist, essayist, broadcaster, and reviewer, and has taught at University College London. She won the Booker Prize for her novel Possession (1990), and her other books include Angels and Insects (1992), and Babel Tower (1996).
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

One of the best stories in this veritable cornucopia of literature is written by a woman born in Bradford – Malachi Whitaker (1805-1976). I had read the story before I looked her up on Google, and was fascinated to find she came from our part of the country. It was easily one of the best in this book, which consists of works by Virginia Woolf, D H Lawrence, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Penelope Fitzgerald, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene and sundry other notables. But Malachi Whitaker’s story was elegant and simple, concerning a young woman who finds herself in a packed train, with a group of young men who proceed to treat her with the greatest of courtesy – all of them landlords of various pubs – including one who is the landlord of a pub called The Crystal Fountain. She falls into conversation with one of these men and by the time they disembark “she knows this new bliss that had grown up in her would never leave her.” It is a story of stark simplicity, a story of love striking like a thunderbolt, but so delightful as she sends a telegram to those expecting her which reads: “Don’t worry about me. I am going to the Crystal Fountain.”

Other stories I particularly liked included Rose Tremain’s The Beauty of the Dawn Shift which concerns the man who, most perversely, decides when the Berlin Wall comes down, he is going East, not West. A tragedy of epic proportions ensues. Ian McEwan’s short story Solid Geometry is so blissfully strange and bewildering – it delights in every way as a man with a shrewish wife he is beginning to bitterly regret is removed by the means of the solid geometry of the title. In the last story Dead Languages – beautifully written by Philip Hensher – a small boy of eight is sent away to school. Gradually, as he takes on the mantle of adolescence, and then maturity, he learns of the existence of a terrible machine, supposedly kept in the bedroom of the mister’s wife. Hensher has used this extraordinary trope before – but here it is again, employed delightfully, and it made me laugh. It’s a code for something else, but I won’t spoil it by presuming to guess. Hensher would like it to be eternal. Lying in some secret place, inscrutable, devilish, wicked and wonderful.

This book is amongst the most entertaining books I have ever read. It contains a wide range of subjects and styles ranging from P. G. Wodehouse's "The Reverent Wooing Of Archibald" to "A Widow's Quilt" by Sylvia Townsend Warner. The book alows the reader to choose his or her story according to mood or prefernence and thus makes for a very good thing. It is the wide range of storie and authors in the book that really make it so great. A. S. Byatt has selected the choicest morcels of litterary brilliance and added them all into this great collection. Thoughly worth a read or two.

"Who's your favourite book writer, granddad?" That's the question my 8yr old granddaughter asked me when she'd hinted that she was going to get me a book for my birthday. I'm really glad that my reply was somewhat `vague' in that I remember telling her that I liked so many authors, classics and modern, and that I would ideally like to read `something from everybody'. It seems my granddaughter took me literally and presented the Oxford Book of Short Stories to me on my birthday - and what a treat it's turned out to be. Wonderful, 37 stories from the 19th & 20th centuries' authors ranging from Dickens, Woolf, Woodhouse, Wells, Lawrence, Kipling, Greene and many others, some of which I'm reading for the first time.

The stories themselves are a wonderful selection, Byatt should be commended on her choice; Byatt tells us that her "... only criterion was that [the] stories ... should be startling and satisfying, and if possible make the hairs on the neck prickle with excitement aesthetic narrative". I think she's managed this.

As a rule I read a few stories each night before going to bed which resulted in about 2 weeks of very, very enjoyable reading - I fully recommend this anthology to anyone and everyone, and it's hard for me to imagine anyone getting the same level of enjoyment for the price paid for the book.

I thought some of the choices were strange, I relished the Dickens ghost story but it turned out not to be one of his finest hours. It definitely improved with the choices on the more modern pieces, especially Huxley and Carter. Would recommend it, not a bad collection at all, overall.

Great introduction to English literature. Mainly 19th and 20th century though there is at least one from the 17th.Reading this one can understand why its often said that literature is one of England's strong points.

This was a delight- I've found many short story anthologies these days seem to suffer from trying to group around a theme, or stick to one type of author, period, or genre. This collection was like taking treasures from a jewel box; perhaps not each one to your taste, or perhaps your favourite author's entry here isn't what you'd have chosen, but you'll always have individual preferences emerging. Byatt's done an amazing job choosing from a wide range of short stories, and putting them together in a way which really fits. It's also not a 'throwaway' collection you buy for a flight and can get rid of- there's a lot of depth and stories you'll want to come back to. And best, being able to discover something you wouldn't have otherwise selected for yourself which opens up a new avenue of readership- the true mark of a good edited anthology.

This is a good book to pick up and read on holiday or at bedtime. All stories are short, some very short. All are good. My own favourite is "At Hiruharama" by Penelope Fitzgerald. But the variety is such that there is something for everyone.